


Just One Night

by RavensFan1989



Category: Law & Order
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 16:03:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7445308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavensFan1989/pseuds/RavensFan1989
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This takes place the night "Killerz" (10x02) ends. </p>
<p>It's my rarest rare pair, and, if you've decided to read it out of curiosity, I hope you enjoy it! :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just One Night

Dr. Olivet had invited him to dinner. He had thought about declining. Today had been a rough day. A ten-year-old girl had killed an even younger boy and, while Dr. Skoda had assured the DA’s office that she was a serial killer who had been caught early, Liz had talked about the biological and psychological factors that had diminished her culpability, insisting that there was still hope for Jenny to refocus her fantasies away from killing boys.

All Jack wanted was some scotch and takeout—a quiet night in to himself. He hoped that Liz was right, but Jack had been in this line of work for long enough to know that for some people there was no hope. Jenny might very well be one of those people. Still, though, Liz had only been doing her job. Going out to dinner with her might be just the thing he needed to begin putting this case behind him, one of the most difficult ones he had ever had the misfortune to work on.

They had chosen a small, reasonably-priced Italian restaurant for their get-together. He was guided towards their table for two. “Sorry I’m late,” he greeted his good friend. He took off his suit jacket and placed it neatly over his chair, before sitting down. Liz already had a glass of red wine in front of her, and Jack soon had an order placed for the same.

Some small talk commenced. But Jack could tell Liz had something on her mind that she didn’t seem to know how to tactfully bring up. Being tactful, however, had never been one of Jack’s biggest concerns in life. “You did not bring me here this evening to talk about the Yankees chances of winning the World Series this year. What’s up, Liz?”

“It’s just…I need to know something.”

Jack had never seen Liz this frazzled before. He would let her take as much time as she needed to proceed. He was unsure if he even wanted her to go on because he had the feeling that he wasn’t going to like whatever her question might be.

“Are you and Emil involved with each other?”

For a second, Jack thought he had heard her wrong or that she didn’t mean what he thought she meant but, if she had meant something else, then she would have chosen her words more carefully. “Are we involved with each other?!” he repeated, indignant that she had even felt it necessary to ask that question.

He would have said a lot more than that but their waiter came back with his glass of wine, giving Liz the chance to speak up again, once he was out of hearing range. “I only ask because he didn’t seem like himself today—like he was saying what _you_ wanted to hear.”

The shocked expression had yet to leave Jack’s face. “And there are a million reasons why he might do that other than us being involved,” he declared, struggling to keep his voice down, “You’re wrong, Liz. About everything. We’re not involved, and he has never given me anything other than his own professional opinion.”

The rest of the dinner passed with strained conversation. Jack’s mind kept on wanting to wander back to Liz’s question. Jack knew he had a penchant for sleeping with his colleagues but they had all been female ADAs who had worked with him. To make the leap from that to him messing around with a psychiatrist he worked with on an as-needed basis…That was _never_ going to happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack had gone home and attempted to think of anything other than the dinner that had just finished. He put on a pair of jeans and a brown, light sweater. He was going to watch the news and call it an early night but his mind kept on drifting back to that unwarranted question. Had he gotten too defensive over something that wasn’t even happening? What did that mean? He was no psychiatrist but he didn’t like what he thought it might mean.

There was perhaps only one true test to know the answers to those questions, so Jack found himself placing a bottle of unopened scotch in a bag, and a few minutes later he was in a cab and headed to Dr. Skoda’s apartment. This would not be the first time that Jack had been in the psychiatrist’s apartment but it would be the first time he was there for purposes not strictly work-related. And all because Liz had dared to bring up one simple question. Jack knew by the time this night was over he would either be cursing or blessing Liz for her words.

Twenty minutes later, Jack was knocking on the doctor’s front door. Skoda answered, wearing jeans and a sky blue polo shirt. “Jack,” he addressed him, surprised at this unexpected visitor, “Who let you in?”

“Mrs. Nichols.” She was Skoda’s elderly next-door neighbor. Jack had exchanged words with her on a few occasions when he had been here. He had asked her to buzz him in tonight because he had wanted this to be a surprise. Mission accomplished. “I thought you could use a little pick-me-up after today.” He held up the bag in his hand, the tip of the scotch bottle just poking out of the top.

“Come on in then.” Skoda opened the door wider to let the attorney through. He shut the door behind him, wondering what had prompted this seemingly social visit from Jack. It wasn’t like this was the first time that a judge had disagreed with his professional opinion.

They both headed towards the small kitchen area. Jack took the bottle out of the bag, while Skoda got two glasses out. This was the beginning of their usual routine whenever Jack came over. Skoda always offered something for him to drink or eat, seeing as Skoda often ate or drank on the tab of the DA’s office whenever he helped them out. Next they would get down to business and discuss whatever it was that had brought the ADA to his home. But this wasn’t a business meeting, was it?

As Jack poured their drinks, he asked, “Do you really think there’s no hope for Jenny?”

“I call ‘em like I see ‘em, Jack,” he responded, “Her mother won’t be able to watch her every hour of every day. No one will. There’s no refocusing her fantasies. She’ll kill again. I don’t doubt it.”

Jack slid a glass over to Skoda with a small sigh. “Here’s to hoping that doesn’t happen until after I’m long retired.” He picked up his own glass and raised it in Skoda’s general direction before taking a sip.

Skoda led them over to his couch, and they sat down. “I appreciate the gesture,” he said, holding up his glass, “but I know it isn’t the only reason you came here tonight.”

The ADA offered him a smile and a chuckle. “Are you ever _not_ a psychiatrist?” Well, there was no point in putting it off. “I had dinner with Liz this evening.”

“And, let me guess, she tried to convince you that she was right.”

Jack shook his head. “No. We only really talked about you.”

Skoda sat up a little bit straighter on the couch. “Me?” He sounded as surprised as he had every right to be.

He didn’t even know why he was saying any of this. He hadn’t had to bring it up. “She thought you had only said things that I wanted to hear.” Before giving the psychiatrist a chance to respond to that, Jack went on, “And she thought it might be because we’re involved with each other.” Jack thought that Skoda would be as outraged as he had been at the suggestion.

The reaction he received, however, was a muted, “Oh,” from him. Skoda downed his drink and set the empty glass on the coffee table. “You did tell her that I would never let anyone affect my professional opinion of a patient, no matter how involved or not involved I am with them?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders. “Not in so many words but yeah.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Skoda questioned, as there clearly was something that didn’t seem to be sitting right with the ADA.

He came back with his own question. “It doesn’t bother you that Liz’s first assumption was that we must be sleeping together?”

“It was a rational conclusion for her to come to, given your history and given my interest in—“

Jack couldn’t let him finish. He didn’t want to hear how _rational_ it was for Liz to have asked him what she had. All he wanted right now was the man sitting beside him. Jack would have been lying to himself if he denied ever having snuck less than professional looks in Skoda’s direction, and he could have sworn time and time again that the psychiatrist had done the same his own way. If people were going to think that the two of them were involved, then why not make sure the grief was well deserved?

Without thinking about what he was doing—because thinking would only give him cold feet—Jack placed his glass down and wrapped one hand around the back of Skoda’s neck. Their lips met, a tentative kiss that Jack would have deepened, if Skoda had not pulled away.

“We shouldn’t do this, Jack. It’s…it’s improper for two professionals, such as ourselves, to be doing this.”

Jack’s hand didn’t move from around Skoda’s neck. “You said it yourself. You’d never let someone, no matter how involved you are with them, to affect your professional opinion.” He smiled what he hoped was a reassuring one before going on. “One night, Emil. It doesn’t have to be more than one night.”

Skoda knew that he should resist the temptation that had been laid out before him. One night or one hundred nights. It was wrong. But that thought didn’t stop one of his hands from moving up to caress Jack’s cheek. That didn’t stop him from uttering, “One night,” before he leaned in and renewed the kiss he had interrupted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If anyone had asked Jack the following day to describe in detail what happened next, then he would not have been able to do so. They had both lost their shirts before reaching the bedroom. The rest of their clothes had soon followed suit once they reached that room. The first time between any two people is never perfect. Jack remembered he had said it only needed to be one night but, not long after they had finished, thoughts he knew he should not entertain began to creep into his head.

What he could tell people was what had happened after they had cleaned up. After Jack’s turn in the bathroom, he came out to find an already clean Skoda sprawled out on his bed. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Jack joined him. He rolled over onto his side, propping up his head with his hand, so he could better look at the psychiatrist.

Jack traced a line up and down Skoda’s chest with a finger. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke up. “I should—“

“Stay.”

He smiled at that one simple word. “Are you sure?”

Skoda nodded his head. “I don’t want this to be just one night.”

Jack’s smile grew wider. “Neither do I.” He leaned over to steal a quick kiss before turning onto his back. It had been a while since he had shared a bed with anyone—not since Claire had…Well, he didn’t want to think about that right now. He needed to focus on nothing but the here and now. He scooched closer to Skoda and turned back onto his side again so he could drape an arm across the psychiatrist’s chest.

Skoda didn’t seem to mind at all. He hadn’t thought this was going to happen but, now that it had, he realized how much he had wanted it to happen the past two years. He ran a hand through the attorney’s hair. “Goodnight, Jack,” he said, a small smile on his face.

Jack’s eyes closed. “’Night, Emil,” he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. Jack listened to Emil’s heartbeat for several minutes before drifting off to sleep.

Skoda stayed up a while longer, wondering what this all meant and wondering how they had gone from seeing a serial killer in the making released to her mother’s care to something he—and he was sure Jack too—had been wanting for some time now. The link had clearly been Liz’s blunt question. It looked like he and Jack both owed her a future favor, even if she hadn’t likely thought asking it would lead to what it had.

Eventually Skoda fell asleep too. He knew they would wake up tomorrow morning and have breakfast together before going their separate ways. He knew that they would have to come clean about their relationship sooner rather than later—that he would no longer be asked to give his official professional opinion on any cases assigned to Jack. But that was okay. He now had something that was more important to him than his work, and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t be willing to give up to keep Jack by his side. He could only hope that Jack—notorious as he was for sleeping with colleagues—felt the same way. Only time would tell.


End file.
